Amsterdam Then & Now #2 : "Coöperatiehof" / Cooperation Court

Close to the "Dageraad" is the "Coöperatiehof" located, which can be translated as Cooperation Court. This is a block of residential houses for the workers, complemented with a reading room and meeting hall for the purpose of the enlightenment of the workers.

After the Dageraad was finished, there was room left and architect Michel de Klerk was asked to come up with a design for the area. If de Klerk hadn't died in 1923, this spot might not have turned out so special. Piet Kramer was asked to finish and make it blend in with the Dageraad. He came up with low-rise houses in a courtyard, a reading room with flats in an outer ring. Building happened between 1925 and 1928. The design of this central building was inspired by the Chinese pagoda and I think it is amazing that this style blends in with the Dutch architecture so well.

From the air, the courtyard is easy to identify. Can you imagine that the next photo is from 1930, only 2 years after they finished this block? All homes in this area were brand new and a response to the urbanisation. During the first world war, there were hardly any houses build. Now that the war was over, there was a large need for extra houses.
(Fun fact: My house is in that photo too somewhere)

Source (1930)

In 1937, at the goodbye party for the director of the housing association responsible for many of the houses in this area, a sculpture was unveiled for him. I personally think that this is one of the ugliest sculptures that I have ever seen, but it has recently been added to a list of protected monuments in Amsterdam.

Source (1937)

In the photo from 1937, you can see that this ball is standing in a lowered area. I can only imagine what the idea behind that was. I guess they wanted to turn it into a pond and discovered that that didn't work.

Over the years not much has changed in this area. The left photo is the oldest that I could find showing the street on a regular day. The only thing proving that it is not from today is the lonely old car parked in there. Now the courtyard is full of cars and bikes. The drawing from 1943 has the same angle. At this time the second world war was going on and maybe that was the reason for adding the dove to the drawing

The entrance to the reading room has a plaque above the door showing books and the text "leeszaal" which means reading room. On both sides of the books, trees are showing, with on the right side the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

They had a strong vision for this courtyard, it was supposed to be supporting education and health for the people living here.

Memorial stone above the entrance to the reading room (today)

Standing tall above the reading room is a beautiful clock tower with gorgeous details. It wasn't just so that people could see the time, but it was also a symbol of the intellectual elevation of the worker.

The clock tower is a symbol of the intellectual elevation of the worker (today)

Nowadays companies are located in the reading room. I think that shows the lack of social interaction nowadays. Although a reading room is supposed to be quiet, it is also a way to run into your neighbours after work. I liked the original idea behind the courtyard. Maybe one day they will find a good purpose for the reading room.

Fun fact: While the houses were initially intended for labourers, rents soon became too high for them!

Also in this series:

• Amsterdam Then & Now #1 : De Dageraad